Together, Better
by Dartss
Summary: In the aftermath of Cursed Child, Harry and Ginny vow to be better parents. Cursed Child spoilers inside.


Harry came home tired but in slightly better spirits than he had been in for some time. His meeting with Albus had gone well, and although he still didn't feel like things were completely good between them, there was a relief that they seemed to have taken a step in the right direction of being simply okay. Harry hoped it wasn't a case of two steps forward, one step back, but he had listened to the advice he'd been given and tried to just be Harry, and let Albus just be his true self too.

It sounded simple, but it had been hard. After all, Harry still did not find it easy to talk about himself or his feelings. And like he'd said to Albus earlier that day, he really didn't have something to base this parenting thing on. Not really.

He was thinking about Albus as he took the stairs slowly, unaware his steps had easily given his presence away. Harry had just passed the bathroom door when he heard his name called from inside. 'That you?'

'Yeah,' he answered as he took a few steps back toward to the door.

'How'd it go?' she called.

Harry looked at the white painted door and frowned. He didn't want to really yell his response through the door but he did so anyway, 'It went well. Well, I think so, anyway.'

'It went _well_ _well_? What?' Ginny's voice sounded, the door did not disguise her confusion. 'Come in here, I can't understand you.'

Harry opened the door slowly, and though they'd been married for almost two decades, he was surprised by what he saw. The room was lowly lit by a few candles that flickered through the steam of a hot bath in which Ginny was soaking. He couldn't remember the last time Ginny had a bath. Her expression looked concerned, her face dewy with steam. 'What happened now?' there was a sense of dread in her voice. He knew she thought he'd put his foot in it again with their youngest son.

'Nothing, I said it went well,' Harry informed her. 'At least I think it did,' he repeated his earlier sentiment. Ginny's eyebrow rose. 'You look surprised?' Harry said, his own eyebrow rose in return.

Ginny laughed, the water rippled. He was human, so, of course, he looked at the water and the bare skin soaking in it. By the time his eyes made it back to Ginny's, away from her floating breasts and half submerged nipples, both of her eyebrows were raised. 'Are you getting in?'

By the time he'd answered 'yes' he'd already pulled his shirt half over his head. It took very little time for him to undress and step into the water and submerge himself at the other end of the tub. The water, which had filled to accommodate Ginny's smaller size, spilt over the edge, but neither of them cared. Ginny shuffled around slightly so that she was comfortable between his feet, while her own rested perfectly on his chest. It gave him a rather glorious view of her slender and wet legs.

Once comfortable, she reached slightly behind her head and brought a glass of red wine to her lips.

'Is this what you do when I'm not home?' he asked.

Brown eyes blinked slowly as she took a quite a gulp. 'I want to say yes, to tease you a little, but that wouldn't be true,' she said with a small smile. 'I just felt like I needed it. So, what happened today?'

Harry told her about the walk he'd taken with Albus, and about their conversation. When he told her about the pigeons, Ginny laughed again.

'You made that up right?' her eyes glinted in the candlelight. 'You're not scared of pigeons, are you?' When he didn't reply. Ginny's mouth widened into an almost evil grin, thrilled by the new information. 'No!' She chuckled again in disbelief.

'How much wine have you had?' he asked, unable to stop a smile coming to his lips from watching her laugh.

'Just this one,' she held out the almost empty to glass, 'and maybe one other, so you can finish this,' she said as Harry took the glass from her hand.

Unlike his wife, he sipped the wine. He watched her as she slid a little further down so she could rest her head on the tub's edge. A small smile played on her lips as she seemed to gaze off into thoughtful nothingness. There was plenty to contemplate, he knew. It had been a somewhat long year with more than enough events to last them a while. Harry, for one, was rather tired of cataclysmic life altering events, and had hoped that for the next, well forever really, none of them would involve his children or wider family.

Harry understood why Ginny had gulped the wine, he'd been feeling rather stressed too. He tossed the rest back in one swallow. He hadn't thought Ginny had been paying attention to him, but she reached behind once again, this time producing a whole wine bottle. Harry found himself chuckling as she poured it with one hand into the glass and then put it back behind her among the shampoo and wash bottles along the ledge of the bath. Harry took a drink and offered it to Ginny. She, too, took another sip then rested it on the edge of the bath between them before they both sank back into silence.

Harry picked up one of Ginny's feet from his chest and began to knead gently. Ginny had small feet, which he'd always found rather cute. Not that he had a foot thing, but he did quite like that there were remnants of red paint on the nails. His wife wasn't much of a nail painter, though their daughter was and he knew Ginny had done nothing to upkeep their daughter's nail work, nor remove it. Having been attacked by Lily's polish himself, he rather aware of its staying power. He smiled.

After a while, he put her foot back on his chest and picked the other one up to massage it.

'I've been a little angry at you,' Ginny's voice came.

When Harry looked up from the foot in his hand, he was taken aback by how intensely Ginny's eyes were settled on him.

'I know,' his chest deflating slightly. Though he'd suspected as much, it still hurt to have it confirmed. Being a disappointing dad surely made him a disappointing husband. 'I'd be surprised if you weren't,' he said truthfully turning his eyes back down to her foot.

'Harry,' Ginny's voice was barely a whisper as she tried to capture his attention but he wasn't ready to look back up at her. 'I keep thinking of what I would do if Albus said the same things to me. If he told me he didn't want me to be his mum. I think, maybe, I would have gotten upset with him too. I don't know. I'd definitely be hurt.'

Harry ran his nail along the edge of a red speck of polish until it flicked off into the water. 'It doesn't matter,' he watched the fleck float before it sank. 'I still shouldn't have said what I said. I'm still angry with myself so you really don't need to be.'

'I'm not,' she said as she pulled her foot from his grasp. Finally, he looked up into her eyes, which had been her intention. 'I was, but I'm not now. If anything, I'm a bit frustrated with myself.'

A look of pure confusion crossed his face as he tried to fathom why his wife, his pillar of support, had any reason to take responsibility for his own actions. 'What on earth for?'

'I didn't stop you when I knew I should have,' Ginny's face coloured under its dampness, 'I've always been so ridiculously blind to you, in a way. In a lot of ways, actually. I should have tried to reason with you. I should have trusted my own gut and made you see sense. But I didn't,' Ginny's eyes flicked away from him and glared intently at the white tiles beside them. 'I should have done better.'

It was about the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard. 'No,' he said sternly. 'You did try to convince me not to...'

But Ginny's head snapped in his direction. 'Not hard enough,' her brown eyes blazed they way he loved. 'I love you Harry, but, we've got to do better. Be better.'

'I know,' he said with what he hoped was the same amount of conviction as she had. Even if Ginny had not said so, he'd already vowed to himself to be a better parent. Not that he was completely sure how to do it just yet, he _was_ going to be the kind of dad that Albus needed. That James needed. And Lily needed.

'I mean,' inexplicably Ginny laughed, 'we should have known one of them was going to rebel against the _Potter legend_. And we should have known it would have been Al. Sorry, I mean Albus.'

He knew she was laughing at their lack of foresight rather than the situation itself. One thing that had always drawn him to Ginny was her sense of humour. She seemed to have a lot of different pockets of humour, from dirty sex jokes, sarcastic revelations, witty judgements, to self-deprecating comments. 'I suppose he's inherited my ability of getting in trouble.'

'And your disregard for authority,' Ginny said dryly, 'which is funny if you take into account that you literally became the leader of the authorities,' she used her big toe to poke him in the chest.

'And I suppose he got his harsh tongue from you,' Harry jived back.

Ginny scoffed. 'I'm not taking all of that responsibility, Harry. I've heard the things that come out of your mouth. Such sass.'

Harry rolled his eyes as he grabbed one of her ankles and gave it a playful tug. Even when her head bobbed under the water he was sure she was still laughing. Gripping the side of the bath, she pulled herself up gleaming at him. 'Play fair,' she swatted his knee.

'No,' Harry indignantly picked up the discarded wine glass and brought it to his mouth.

'What are you going to do when Lily comes home and announces that she's madly in love with some boy?'

He could tell she was trying to rile him up. 'Nothing,' he said between sips.

Her brow rose again. 'Even if she comes home and declares she loves Scooorrrpiussss,' both her hands clapped over her heart as she mimicked their daughter's voice. Eyelashes fluttered for good measure.

'I know people who can make him disappear,' he said so steadily he surprised himself with his acting skill.

'Harry!' Ginny splashed him.

He held up his free hand to block the water with fake offence. 'You'll ruin the wine, Gin!'

Silence feel between them but for the first time since he got into the tub, perhaps for weeks even, they met one another's eyes with smiles. Never had his love for her faltered. He still thought her beautiful with her porcelain skin and freckled shoulders. Obviously, he loved her hair, even if he preferred it longer than her current short style. Though it did mean it was tied back less. And she still washed it in the flowery stuff Molly brewed. And thankfully, she hadn't gotten too soft in her older age; Ginny could still outwit and crack an inappropriate comment as well as she used to.

'Do you want to play Exploding Snap tonight?' he asked hopefully, thinking of her telling him about how much she appreciated him playing with her all those years ago.

'Are you trying to butter me up?'

'Yes,' he took a sip of wine, 'absolutely.'

Ginny sat forward, took the glass from his hand and drained it with her eyes well trained on him. Once completely empty, she placed it back on the edge of the bath. 'That's it? We go through all this and all the romancing I get is a game of cards?'

'Who do you think you married?' Harry chuckled.

A significant amount of water spilt from the tub, while Ginny manoeuvred herself onto her knees. 'C'mon, you can do better than that,' her finger bopped him on the nose and she went to stand. Harry quickly grabbed her waist and pulled her back down. 'Stay,' he pleaded.

Brown eyes narrowed on him as he leant forward and attempted to wrap his arms around her middle. With a look of expectation, she leant slightly out of his reach. Obviously, she would need some convincing.

'Ginny,' he changed tactics and brought a hand up to her face, his thumb traced her cheek, 'you're not the only one that's ridiculous. I'm very much in love with you, _my_ Ginny. And if I'm going to make a mess of things, I'm glad I have you to toe me up the arse.'

'Very romantic, bringing up arses,' a smile brightened her face.

'You know me,' he smiled back.

With a small sigh, she leant forward into him allowing him to, now, wrap his arms around her. 'I love you,' he managed as he pulled her onto his lap. 'I'm going to do better,' he assured, his fingers traced up her spine.

The loud sound of skin rubbing against porcelain filled his ears while Ginny slid her knees into the small gaps on either side of his body to straddle him. 'You better,' she whispered onto his lips, her arms wrapping around his neck. 'I won't be shagging you in the bath again if you don't. I mean it.'

Harry laughed, even with the underlying threat if he didn't find a way to be a better dad. There was still a while to go, but he was sure things were back on track to being well again.


End file.
